Ellon rail plan gains support

The busy A90 Ellon to Peterhead road will not be dualled according to a new report

Published:12:29Wednesday 20 April 2016

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Two Aberdeenshire councillors have welcomed updates from the Nestrans board meeting on future transport options for the Aberdeen–Ellon–Peterhead/Fraserburgh corridor.

The meeting was held on Tuesday, April 19 and included two options as being worthy of further detailed appraisal.

One of these options was reopening the Dyce to Ellon rail line along with bus service improvements.

Pro-rail councillor Cllr Paul Johnston said: “There is now real momentum behind the campaign to re-open the Dyce to Ellon railway, and strong cross-party political support.

“With this latest report to Nestrans, the option of re-opening the Dyce to Ellon railway has definitely moved a step closer, albeit there is still a long way to go.”

His comments were echoed by fellow councillor Martin Ford as he said: “Clearly, we have only very preliminary findings at this time. Nevertheless, it is significant that even at this stage re-opening the Dyce to Ellon railway line, as part of a package of measures, is identified as one of the two favoured options.”

Both councillors have pushed for the inclusion of the Dyce to Ellon railway as a project in the Aberdeen City Region Deal and last year cycled the line as part of their own assessment of the potential for re-opening.

The two councillors believe re-opening the Dyce to Ellon section of the route offers the best chance for a financially attractive scheme at the present time, but would be keen to see the line extended northwards to Peterhead and/or Fraserburgh at some later stage.